Amage Malmgren, 1866

Reuscher, Michael, Fiege, Dieter & Wehe, Thomas, 2009, Four new species of Ampharetidae (Annelida: Polychaeta) from Pacific hot vents and cold seeps, with a key and synoptic table of characters for all genera, Zootaxa 2191, pp. 1-40 : 21

Amage Malmgren, 1866

Type species: Amage auricula Malmgren, 1866

Generic diagnosis (emended). Prostomium with nuchal organs, often referred to as glandular ridges. Buccal tentacles smooth. Three to four pairs of cirriform branchiae. Segment II without chaetae. Thorax with 13–17 pairs of notopodia and 10–14 uncinigers. Notopodial cirri present. No modified segment. Rudimentary abdominal notopodia present.

Remarks: The genus is well defined by the characteristic shape of the prostomium, the notopodial cirri and the abdominal rudimentary notopodia. Amage is one of a few genera within the subfamiliy Ampharetinae with number of branchiae and thoracic uncinigers varying among species.

The diagnosis takes this variability into account, while most diagnoses characterize the genus Amage as having only four branchiae and 11 thoracic uncinigers, which is presented by the majority of species. Following Hilbig (2000), structures traditionally described as prostomial glandular ridges are here referred to as nuchal organs.